Alfano 'barefaced' on refugee rules, Rome 'ignores norms'

(ANSA) - Berlin, August 22 - Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano is "barefaced" in his complaints about high numbers of refugee arrivals to Italy while at the same time, Rome reportedly fails to meet European norms on the issue, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said Friday.
    "It is rather barefaced that...(Alfano) should on the one hand complain about the heavy burden deriving from the arrival of refugees across the Mediterranean while on the other, he is not concerned with respecting European regulations on asylum matters," Herrmann said.
    Alfano recently said Italy's huge Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation would stop, and the European Union's border agency Frontex should step in to cope with an influx of asylum seekers from North Africa, many originally from Syria and Iraq. The EU has said Frontex is currently too small to take over the task. Hermann, in an interview with the DPA news agency, also accused Rome of deliberately ignoring standard refugee procedures such as fingerprinting in order to allow individuals to leave Italy and seek asylum in other countries.
    "Italy in many cases intentionally does not take personal data and fingerprints from refugees to enable them to seek asylum in another country," he said.